


and i know it makes you nervous

by BlackBat09



Series: why don’t you run from me? [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Brotherly Bonding, Gen, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Pack Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 21:51:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18786928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBat09/pseuds/BlackBat09
Summary: but i promise you it's worth itWhen Jason gets brought to Wayne Manor, he’s relieved to find that the only alpha in the household is Alfred, who’s decidedly not like the stereotypes.He was happy to think he’d never have to deal with someone in rut.





	and i know it makes you nervous

**Author's Note:**

> uhhh probably not the continuation people wanted of my omegaverse but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ you get birdbro bonding anyways. there’s a lot of nuances to betas as i’m writing them, feel free to ask in the comments, but, in short, Dick is what’s called an A-type beta.
> 
> title from come out and play by Billie Eilish

“Pardon me, Master Jason.”

Something smells good as Jay and Alfred enter the manor from the garage, Jason trailing after the butler with his school bag still slung over his shoulder, interested in whatever he’s whipping up. Alfred’s jacket hangs on the back of a chair, shirtsleeves crisply folded back as he ties on an apron before returning to the pot on the stove that had been simmering at low heat while Alfred picked Jason up from school. The kitchen is a little messy but the smell makes it all worth it, Jason’s stomach rumbling in anticipation, and he opens up the fridge for a quick snack, finding it stuffed to the brim in a way it isn’t often.

“You havin’ a party, Al?” Jason questions, grabbing a yogurt cup and bumping the fridge closed with his hip before skirting to grab a spoon.

“No. Master Dick will be arriving tonight and staying for a few days. I decided it was prudent to stock up.”

Jason hops onto one of the tall chairs at the island, peeling the lid off his snack and licking it clean. “I thought he was off doin’ Titans stuff.”

“He was,” Alfred conforms, stirring the pot. “And he’ll return in a few days, once his rut is finished.”

Everything stops.

The word rut sticks in Jason’s brain, everything else backed up by the wall he’s hit, and he can’t force his way past it, still stuck on that one word. Alfred is the only alpha in the house, to Jason’s knowledge, and he’s either too old for ruts or too well-suppressed: Jason’s never seen him have one, and, besides, Alfred just isn’t like that. Many alphas that Jason’s seen before, though, are predators in rut, using the excuse of their instincts and their hormones to justify forcing themselves on an omega to get their knot wet.

Ruts are dangerous. Jason isn’t big and muscled like Bruce, he’s still a skinny, awkward teen, smaller than Dick, and he doesn’t know if he can fight him off if Dick decides to get what he wants.

He doesn’t even know how Dick is having a rut. Jason thought Dick was a beta.

”Master Jason.”

Alfred’s hand on his shoulder startles Jason, a distressed wheeze escaping him before he can stop it, but he knows Alfred is safe, blinking up at him blearily.

“Can you breathe for me? Those exercises Master Bruce taught, for meditation.”

Those are easy. Inhale for a count of four, hold for seven, exhale for eight. It’s just breathing, of course Jason can do it.

“What do you know about betas?”

It’s a dumb question. Jason knows what everyone knows about betas.

“They’re really rare, n’they don’t scent or bond normal. And they don’t have heats or ruts.”

Vaguely, he hears Alfred mumble something about American schooling, but his focus is on the steadying count of breathing in and holding, the whoosh of each exhale.

“Betas are not as rare as some might assume, and they can scent and bond, like any alpha or omega,” Alfred corrects. “And while they may not have a traditional cycle, certain betas can have pseudo-cycles. Like Master Dick.”

“So it’s... a pseudo-rut?” A false rut. Jason doesn’t know what that means, compared to the horror stories of alpha ruts that he’s heard.

“Yes. Since moving out of the manor, Master Dick has elected to stop his rut suppressants. He only has two to three ruts per year when unsuppressed, unlike an alpha’s monthly ruts.”

None of this really explains what’s going to happen when Dick gets to the manor. If Jason will be safe. His voice sounds weak to his own ears. “Al, I... Should I even be here? While Dick’s in rut?”

Alfred meets his eyes, serious but gentle. “I can promise you, Master Jason, if Master Dick’s rut made him a danger to you, he wouldn’t be coming to the manor. No one in this home is ever going to hurt you. I wouldn’t allow it.”

The butler drapes his jacket over Jason’s shoulders and he relaxes into it, the scent of a safe, protective pack member soothing him with every measured breath. “Thanks, Al.”

“Of course, Master Jason. Finish your snack and then go start on your homework, I’ll let you know when Master Dick arrives.” He bobs his head and does just that, letting the alpha’s scent and the smells of the kitchen calm him down enough to eat and then scurrying off to his room to work on math.

* * *

The roar of Dick’s motorcycle a few hours later rouses Jason from his stupor of work, teeth worrying the inside of his lip as he heads down to see him, Dick’s laughter carrying from the foyer. He’s grinning when Jason sees him from the stairs, hugging Bruce and rising up to scrub their cheeks together, familiar scenting that Jason’s never seen Dick do with Bruce: they’re usually shouting, not smiling at each other, and it makes him a little less wary as he makes his way over. The fact that he can’t smell anything different about Dick, either, just the usual warm caramel scent, is calming, no overpowering aggression or lust hitting Jason.

Dick hugs Alfred, too, scenting him as Jason hangs back and watches curiously, chewing his lip until Dick peeks at him over Alfred’s shoulder. His smile is blinding but his eyes are soft, tilting his head to look Jason over.

“Hey, Little Wing. It’s good to see you.”

“Hey.”

Dick steps out from behind Alfred, but not any closer, just shifting his bag higher on his shoulder. “Do you mind if I scent you a little?”

His mouth dries up at the question, skin crawling with nerves as he tries not to bite through his lip. “Maybe later?”

“Sure thing,” Dick replies, and the lack of anger catches Jason off-guard for a second before he hesitantly smiles back.

Dick dominates dinner conversation chattering about the Titans, relating tales of fights and jokes and antics that almost kind of make Jason wish he could go hang out sometime. “They appreciate this, by the way, taking me for the other half of my cycle,” he adds, grinning sheepishly. “They’re all kinda worn out.”

It’s fairly obvious from the way Bruce looks at his oldest that he wouldn’t have dreamed of doing anything else. “Anytime, Dick.”

Overall, it seems to be like Alfred said, that the beta isn’t dangerous or even particularly different during his rut; he’s got a lot of energy and he’s talking a lot, but that’s pretty normal for Dick, or at least the Dick Alfred recounts stories of. It’s interesting to reconcile this excitable puppy of a man with the angry vigilante who’d shouted at Bruce for replacing him and barely gave Jason a second look otherwise, and Jason decides, understandably, that he prefers this side of Dick.

“You wanna hang out after dinner, Little Wing?”

Jason blinks up at Dick, an earnest smile on his face, and can’t help smiling back, even as he shakes his head. “I’ve gotta finish some homework, but... maybe after?”

He has to hand it to Dick, the big blue puppy dog eyes are devastating, and Jason’s bracing himself for the guilt trip, but instead Dick flashes him a brilliant grin. “Alfred was telling me how much you love school. That’s really great, Jay. No wonder he’s proud.”

The praise floors him for a moment, warmth flooding his face, before Jason ducks his head and mumbles to be excused, scurrying off as soon as Bruce allows. It finally makes sense why people like Dick so much, if that’s how he usually is when he’s not mad, the way Jason’s always seen him around Bruce. Part of him wonders if it’s something to do with Dick’s rut, too, pheromones or something, but he honestly can’t imagine that smile being less devastatingly effective at any other time.

He finishes the rest of his science homework with a tiny smile he can’t make go away, packing his bag up again for the next day and changing into sweats before he heads out into the halls to try and follow Dick’s scent. It takes Jason to Bruce’s office, where Dick sits on his desk, legs swinging slightly, a grin lighting up his face when Jason walks in.

“Little Wing!”

“Is your homework finished?” Bruce asks, glancing up to see Jason nod before returning to his work.

“You wanna hang out until we gotta patrol?” Jason offers, and Dick bounces to his feet, crossing the room and hesitating until Jason nods before tossing an arm over his shoulders: not too tight, just a gentle weight. “Later, Bruce.”

“Bye, B,” Dick calls back as Jason leads him from the office down to the rec room, depositing the older teen on the couch as he starts digging through the DVDs, listening to Dick shuffle around behind him as he pops in a favorite and grabs the remote.

There’s a nest of pillows and blankets on the couch when Jason turns, and he laughs awkwardly at the space Dick’s left for him, the beta’s eyes hopeful. “You usually this opportunistic, Dickie?”

Confusion flickers across his face before Dick blushes, shaking his head, “It’s not- Jay, you’re _thirteen_ , and you’re pack, I’m not trying to put the moves on you. Just... scenting makes this easier on me. If you wanna, Little Wing, I’m not forcing you.”

Jason watches him for a second, huffs a little breath before crossing the room to clamber up next to him, letting Dick pull the blanket up over their legs as he settles in. The opening menu plays and Dick laughs softly, giving Jay a little grin.

“Pride and Prejudice?”

“It’s a favorite,” he mumbles with a sheepish shrug, hitting play and then tucking in closer to Dick, pulling his arm around Jason’s shoulders again. “We can scent now.”

Dick rumbles a pleased purr, leaning down to nuzzle into Jason’s hair as the movie opens, his own soft purr answering as he tilts his head up to scrub their cheeks together, huffing a little at the scratch of Dick’s patchy stubble before the beta laughs at him, humming contentedly. He’s respectful, controlled, never getting close to the sensitive glands on Jason’s throat and asking before he scents his wrists, letting Jason do the same in return and smell Bruce and Alfred on Dick’s skin, eased by the familiar scents of the pack.

* * *

He jolts awake with a sharp inhale that his lungs do not appreciate, coughing to the quiet accompaniment of the DVD menu and Dick’s snores stuttering and stopping as he wakes. “You okay, Little Wing?” comes the concerned question that Jason waves off with a nod; it’s his own fault for falling asleep like this, he just needs to clear his lungs.

Dick’s groaning and the pop of his joints assure Jason they’re both dumbasses for sleeping how they did, the elder sighing and rubbing Jason’s back at the fit subsides. “Mm. If B still keeps time like he did when I’m around, he’s probably already on patrol,” he murmurs, shocking one last cough out of Jason before he tries scrambling off the couch, only for Dick to stop him with a firm hand around his wrist that makes Jason snarl.

“Let _go_!” And Dick does, hands up in surrender and neck bared to Jason, making him falter for a second at how easily the beta listened, not sure what to make of it as he tries to count out his breaths.

Dick rumbles softly, neck still bared, all his body language displaying submission and apology. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have grabbed you. I just wanted you to wait so you could hear me say that Bruce was probably giving you the night off. He or Alfred would’ve gotten us if he needed us out there.”

He’s not sure what he hates more, that Dick is probably right, or that he seems honestly sorry for making Jason feel unsafe, but it leaves Jason unbalanced, squinting nervously at the older teen but not snapping when he starts to lower his hands.

“Do you wanna keep hanging out? I think we both might’ve missed the end,” he offers, and Jason considers it for all of a second before the stitch in his ribs makes itself known again, wincing as he shakes his head.

“I’ve seen it like, fifty times, and I think my body’s telling me to sleep in my own bed, anyway. But, after school tomorrow?” Dick nods eagerly and Jason smiles, tossing him the remote to shut everything down as he trudges off to his own room. The scent of caramel lingers on Jason as he changes into his pajamas, taking a few deep breaths before he climbs under the covers and drifts off.

* * *

Dick is already awake when Jason’s alarm goes off for school, practicing routines in the gymnasium, and Jason’s starting to understand why the Titans are tired. Where the heats Jason had before Bruce determined the right suppressants were moody, low-energy affairs, Dick’s pseudo-rut seems to be the exact opposite, bright and active in a way that makes Jason’s head spin, kinda like the sunny smile Dick flashes him as he and Alfred head out the door, leaving the sweat-damp acrobat in the front hall.

After school and homework, Dick drags Jason to the gymnasium to spar-

Well, “spar.”

It ends up being play-fighting, the Robins pouncing on each other, pinching and poking and snapping their teeth, laughter and growling echoing off the walls of the room. Dick’s careful not to pin Jason, keeps his hands away from his neck, and Jason returns the favor, instead focusing on tackling the beta to the ground, grappling and snarling as they roll around on the mats like pups.

The energy carries over to excitable dinner conversation and then patrol, a quiet night of crime translating to a fun night for the boys, as Robin slaps Nightwing’s shoulder and yells, “Rooftop tag!” Even Batman has to smile gently at the sight of his sons jumping and flipping from building to building, dodging attempts to grab each other and groaning loudly each time they get caught.

It’s an odd thing to call peace, but, to the Bats, that’s exactly what it is, time to unwind among their own, safe and happy.

Jason knows it’s finally come to an end when Dick walks down the stairs like a normal person instead of bouncing down them in the morning and doesn’t immediately try to scent him, instead ruffling his hair affectionately before he heads for the pantry.

“Morning, Little Wing.”

He pouts around a mouthful of cereal, smoothing down his curls before he swallows and replies, “Hey, Dickiebird. Feelin’ better?”

A hum and the rustling of cereal boxes answers him, Dick taking his time to pour a bowl before sliding in across the island from Jason. “Yeah. Thanks for putting up with me, Jay. I know you’re not super touchy.”

Yep, still charming, even out of rut. He ducks his head and shrugs, brushing off the praise with a quiet, “You’d do the same for me in a heat.”

“You know I would,” Dick agrees, smiling as his spoon clinks lightly against the side of his bowl. “In a heartbeat.”

“Hey, don’t sound too eager, asshole,” he snarls, feeling his cheeks burn as Dick smirks.

“Aw, c’mon, Little Wing, we spend a couple days cuddling and you expect me to not wanna do it again?”

Jason chokes, dropping his spoon in his bowl and slamming a fist against the island as he snaps back at him, “It wasn’t cuddling! It was scenting! You were on your rut, you- you _dick_!”

Even as Dick continues to laugh at him and Jason puts his burning face in his hands, though, he can’t help but smile.

**Author's Note:**

> find me at blackbat16 on tumblr, comments are love~ <3


End file.
